Enclosed auto transport
Cars that should not be sitting in the weather behind an open deck. Enclosed transport puts a hard wall between your vehicle and everything on the road, which is the whole reason it costs more than the open carrier next to it.
When this is the right call
- The vehicle is a classic, an exotic, or anything where paint damage is not a repair, it is a loss
- The car is low enough that a standard ramp would touch the splitter or the exhaust
- You are moving a vehicle seasonally in or out of Florida and want it to arrive clean
- It is a dealer, auction or private sale where the buyer sees the car before you do
Enclosed against open, in plain terms
An open carrier is how most cars in America move, and for most cars it is the right answer. The vehicle rides exposed: road grit, stone chips, weather and whatever the truck in front throws off its tyres. Enclosed transport removes all of that, and it also removes the car from public view, which matters more than people expect on high value vehicles sitting overnight at a truck stop.
Ride height is the detail that catches people out
A car that clears a driveway does not necessarily clear a loading ramp, because a ramp is a steeper break-over angle than anything on a road. Lowered cars, splitters and long front overhangs are exactly the vehicles enclosed customers own, so tell us the ride height at tender and the load goes to a trailer with a hydraulic lift gate instead of a fixed ramp. Finding that out with the driver already on site costs a day and sometimes a bumper.
What we do not do
We do not quote a car off a photo and a postcode. The VIN, whether it runs, and what has been done to the suspension are what separate a real number from a number that gets revised the morning of pickup. And we place this work with carriers who run enclosed equipment as their actual business, not with a general freight carrier who happens to own a trailer.
| Trailer | Enclosed auto carrier, hard sided |
|---|---|
| Capacity | One to seven vehicles depending on the trailer |
| Loading | Drive on where clearance allows, hydraulic lift gate where it does not |
| Non running | Winch loading available, arranged at tender |
| Securement | Soft straps over the tyres rather than chains on the frame |
| Coverage | Carrier cargo cover, limit confirmed per load |
| Typical use | Classic, exotic, luxury, low clearance and high value vehicles |
What we need to quote it
Give us these and the rate comes back accurate
A vague tender produces a vague number that changes later. These are the details that actually move the price.
| Year, make and model | Plus the VIN. Dimensions and weight come from this, and so does the price. |
|---|---|
| Running or not | A non-running car needs a winch and a carrier equipped for it. Say so at tender, not at pickup. |
| Ride height and modifications | Lowered suspension, splitters, wide body, roof boxes. Anything that changes how it loads. |
| Both addresses honestly | Enclosed trailers are long and tall. A narrow street or a low branch decides where the handover actually happens. |
| Declared value | What the vehicle is worth drives the coverage the carrier has to carry. |
Other services
Have a lane in mind?
Send us the details and we will come back with a rate and tell you whether we are hauling it or placing it.